Harry Potter and the Temptation of War
by Janus Darko
Summary: It's Harry's 6th year and Voldemort hasn't made a move. Brand new dangers threaten the possibility of a quiet year, and a secret hidden in Hogwarts may save everyone. AU obviously. Pairings mostly undecided.
1. Prologue-Old Magic,New Power

This story is going to play out in 3 parts. or what should be 3 parts. I'm not one of those people who start on a story and ends up with a 100-200 chapter epic that has yet to reach a conclusion. I also won't do chapters that are only a couple paragraphs long. I'll try to update as regularly as I can but I'm not going to go months or even years without an update. going to attempt to put out parts when my muse decides to be nice to me

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"Come along Wormtail, we must hurry. If my calculations are correct it should be over the next hill." The man's harsh words echoed throughout the immense stretch of land that lay before them.

The smaller man who seemed to be trembling despite the temperate nature of the area decided to voice his concerns.

"But my lord, would it not be simpler to Apparate to the location than making the journey on foot?"

The other man sighed in extreme exasperation.

"Of course you incredible simpleton, but consider that in order to properly execute an Apparition, which prior experience has convinced me is a feat you've yet to accomplish, you must be able to visualize your location precisely. Without the proper concentration you may find yourself within the seams of an armchair."

Not altering his pace in the slightest, the ill-tempered man continued with his explanation.

"Our destination has been hidden with a powerful Disillusionment Charm which has been neither detected nor undone in the past thousand years. Even you must be aware that it makes the affected target near impossible to see. This makes the location easier to hide than the highly fallible Anti-Apparition wards. Such ancient and powerful magicks have hidden it that the only signs that anything out of the ordinary has occurred are only visible during a cosmic event known as 'The Temptation of War', in which Venus rotates out of its own orbit and with a slingshot around this planet eclipses Mars before returning to its natural revolutionary orbit at the exact astrological point in which it left."

Continuing with only an interruption or two from the fidgeting man, they finally arrived at a large, seemingly innocuous stretch of land.

"We've arrived at our destination."

The smaller man looked around the harsh landscape.

"But, surely you can't be serious my liege. This place is barren and unforgiving. The rocks prevent any groundwork for construction and make it impossible for sowing any crops, and the location is so far away from civilization that no one would purchase it."

Fighting the impulse to slap himself in disbelief, he leveled his piercing gaze at the small man.

"Once again your nigh-intolerable stupidity has reached new bounds. We have come on this mission to find a hidden location. You ,on the other hand, have listed every possible excuse not to be here that could enter that inferior mind of yours."

He carried on as if explaining the fact that snow is cold to a particularly dim student.

"Remember for a moment, if such a simple task is even attainable to your intellect, the reasons you spouted forth so haphazardly. 'unyielding groundwork for construction' yet you have no credentials to prove so, 'unkind soil for farming', while you yourself have never so much as held a rake. The final excuse being that 'the location is too far removed from civilization to be commercially viable', this being the worst as any business venture that you would knowingly enter into would undoubtedly fail, immediately."

He decided to take a small sliver of pity on his follower, much the same way a vulture takes pity on a potential meal by simply waiting for it to die than to take matters into its own talons.

"I too have felt the nagging sense of impossibility that goes hand in hand with Anti-Muggle/ Magical charms. The reason I am able to ignore it however is because I am so adamant in my belief of the power contained within that the only impossibility is the one in which I do not obtain it, which would still require me to remain in the area to search for it."

With this statement he leveled his gaze at the quivering Wormtail and spoke in a soft voice, dripping with contained malice.

"The fact that you succumbed to the charms means you either do not wish to be here, which would anger me..."

At this Wormtail noticed red, green, and yellow sparks flying from the pale object in the man's grip. Knowing the varied spells each of these colors possibly indicated brought no relief to the nervous man, as he knew without a shred of doubt that only the most dangerous of them would ever grace it .

The only other possibility would be you simply do not believe that this place exists."

The red sparks ceased, leaving only putrid yellow and sickly green to dance off of the wand before him;

"If that is the case, then I can very well find another who will assist me in uncovering the spoils of this place. Of course this will involve a decidedly permanent change in my ranks. Is that what you wish, Pettigrew?"

Peter was far too terrified of the wholly green sparks he could see reflecting brightly in his master's eyes to do anything more than fervently shake his head 'No', his brown eyes fearful.

"Good, I'm pleased we are in agreement, we shall soon be seeing signs, as 'The Temptation' is beginning."

He was correct, as the sky began to become a very vibrant red, though it was mid-day. Suddenly he cried out.

"There! The land is shimmering! Why do you not have your wand out, you fool? Quickly, cast the spells, and pronounce them correctly or I will remove your head so slowly that fool ghost's near-beheading will be instantaneous in comparison."

Strange Latin mingled with languages not heard aloud in generations, filling the air as the partially clouded sky swirled into an unbelievable brown color and the twisting winds forced the clouds into a series of beginning tornadoes. It seemed to Wormtail that the entirety of the Earth and heavens had momentarily traded places as the ground became a deep blue color. The world seemed to cringe as the incredibly complex spell was conquered. Looking on a site unseen by man, beast or spirit for millennia, the man formerly known as Tom Marvolo Riddle began laughing at the heavens, relishing his lust for power,

"Soon I shall have a power that will rival even the Great Old Ones!"

Far away in the office of the renowned Albus Dumbledore, Deputy Headmistress Minerva McGonagall was staring in horror at a box which had just burst open on its own accord. This box was never to be opened, now or in the future; for within was a power that was only to be called upon in the most dire of circumstances. Even the Professor herself had been tempted to peek inside, cats were known for their curiosity after all. But even she knew that the fact that it had opened was a herald of a war that generations had prayed would never come.


	2. A Summer at Home

Here's the actual first chapter of **' Temptation of War '** . I had a really hard time actually coming up with the title for this one. The actual written version (on paper) came out to be around 3 pages front and back. Since I have no idea how this translates from written word to posting, I don't know how large these chapters will be. I myself enjoy _reading _very long chapters, but I have some trouble setting out pacing to match in my own works. As it is I have to pretype all of my chapters on WordPad before pasting over to Word. (my computer doesn't like it apparently). So I apologize if the chapters are shorter than most.

Also. . .

A/N: Woohooo...my first author's note...I've always loved reading these. I know many of you were wondering what spells Tommyboy had jumping off his wand,and as _this_ fanfic's author, I can answer such questions. Since the Killing Curse is a sickly green color, I figured I'd make the other Unforgivables similar colors, with the Cruciatus Curse being blood red and the Imperius Curse being a gross yellow. I know you supposedly can't actually see the other two being cast, but I figured I'd give them significant colors for the added split second of terror. I know many wizards are probably terrified of the color green coming out of a wand at any point.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. JK Rowling does... meaning that Epilogue is all her fault. If you're going to set everything in the 90's, don't set up an epilogue that still takes place in freaking 2017! If your epilogue hasn't taken place yet..don't write it unless it's a big skip, between 60 and 100 years. Oh yeah..and Warner Brothers owns the film rights, even though they cut out Winky, Bagman, the Sphinx, Harry giving the twins the winnings (basically 4's cutting room floor was littered) Teddy, Victoire; and screwed up Lily's eye color in EVERY SCENE SHE WAS IN...except possibly the Mirror of Erised because it's in a weird blue-grayscale.

Anyway..on with the story.

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Harry Potter was pacing the floor in front of the archway to Headmaster Albus Dumbledore's office, wondering what led to calling for him so urgently. Due to the ritual that Riddle had used to reclaim a physical body requiring some of Harry's blood, the wards had to be reaffirmed in order for Harry to return to his relatives, a process which allowed him to spend a longer amount of time at the Burrow.

A few months prior however, Harry _himself _was possessed by the snake bastard, so the wards would have to be further strengthened, keeping him at Hogwarts for this summer and possibly the winter. This didn't bother Harry or his relatives in the slightest, as upon hearing the news his relatives had taken a vacation to Switzerland, leaving him Dursley-free for the next year.

Glancing around, he noticed the castle was far busier than he would have believed before without classes in session. Cloths were cleaning the walls of the school while the resident ghosts polished every window and trophy. The gargoyle at Professor Dumbledore's staircase was even polishing its horns.

A loud banging sound signaled that Peeves was probably causing trouble for the other ghosts. In the midst of watching a pair of magical portraits argue over whether or not to throw away a bedspread that had been painted into the man's portrait at his mother's request before her passing, he heard an "A-hem." Turning to find the source of the voice, Harry noticed the gargoyle was looking at him with something akin to disdain.

"You can go straight up, you know. I don't have a password right now and it's rather rude of you to watch someone cleaning. Especially something so personal." he gestured to his horn and the cloth in his hand.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know." he said as the gargoyle narrowed its eyes.

"Of course you didn't, didn't even bother to ask, did you? Back and forth, back and forth. It's the Headmaster's office, not the Changeling Room, or the Come-and-Go Room or whatever you young ones call it these days. I don't answer your wishes if you pace long enough like that insufferable door," It rolled its eyes, making a slight grinding sound.

"Either you tell me the password or you don't. It doesn't matter to me either way. That's the way I work. It's simple, it's easy to understand, and I've been doing it that way for years. Just go wear a hole up in the office."

"I'm sorry, I really di-," Harry fumbled.

"Yes, yes _'I'm sorry, I didn't know', _just go and pace up there, you're driving me batty."

The gargoyle moved out of the way and began tapping his stone foot impatiently, making a loud echo in the near abandoned hallway.

Harry felt heat rising in his face.

"Yes sir, right away sir."

He spoke quickly, hurrying up the stairs before his mouth tried to apologize again. The thought entered his head that if he still found it strange to apologize to a living gargoyle statue that acted as a doorman to a wizard who was over a century older than he was, then he would never get used to the wizarding world.

As he approached the door to the office it swung open abruptly startling him. Entering the doorway he saw the older wizard in his chair, wearing a royal purple robe with ivory details.

"Hello, Mr. Potter. I apologize for the suddenness of the door. I don't have many visitors during the summer holidays and I was expecting you some 10 minutes ago, making the door rather excited to be performing its duties. Though, I expect you ran into some trouble with Humperdink downstairs."

The twinkle in his eye was extremely noticeable at this point.

"Humperdink, Sir?" Harry asked bewildered.

"Ah, you know him as the gargoyle that guards my office. He was commissioned by a previous headmaster some 600 years ago for some extra security. The wizard who actually charmed him went by the name of 'Max' and named Humperdink for a rather unfriendly prince he'd been unfortunate enough to come across. He was actually known to become particularly unruly whenever the name was mentioned, and I suspect his creation bears the same grudge against it.

"If memory serves Humperdink changed it to 'Terraxeter' before I began teaching here. A small hint for if you ever have need of an audience with me quickly, call him by his name. Either one will do, though I suspect he will throw a tantrum at the sound of his given name so be warned." At this he gave a small chuckle and Harry smiled as he imagined the guard throwing a tantrum akin to his cousin Dudley.

The headmaster cleared his throat, bringing Harry out of his daydream.

"Now to the matter I called you for. I must leave on an extended trip to verify information about Lord Voldemort's current plans and I require you to remain at Hogwarts in my absence. You are free to explore the grounds but the usual rules still apply. Do not enter the forest without my guidance and do not go into Hogsmeade without a guardian. There are areas of the grounds in which the wards are thinned for certain activities and it is highly dangerous outside them, especially for you. Do you understand, Harry?"

"Yes Sir."

"Excellent, now I must leave you in the care of Hagrid while I am away. I shouldn't be gone for more than a few weeks or so. I trust you'll be able to use the school's facilities to finish your summer course work?" he said peering at Harry over his spectacles.

"Yes Professor. I should manage alright."

"Well done, Harry. You may also ask any of the teachers for help providing they are not previously occupied with other work."

"I understand Sir."

"Excellent, now I shall be off." he said as he strode over to the fireplace. Throwing a handful of floo powder into the fire it became a bright blue color.

"Blue? I thought all floos were green?" The older gentleman's eyes began twinkling again.

"This is my special batch, reserved for important uses. It burns much hotter and allows for travel in fires not usually available by regular means. I also have no need to shout my destination in case I'm overheard."

He turned toward Harry before continuing.

"I remember a goat herder in Wales who was rather shocked when I appeared out of his match whilst he was in the midst of lighting his pipe. I had a decidedly tobacco-esque scent for some time afterward."

Harry, still laughing at the story, watched the old headmaster tip his cap and stride through the blue flames and disappear. Harry stared at the blue flames in amazement before turning to leave the office. Suddenly he heard the professor's voice again from behind him.

Seeing him floating in the fireplace, the teen struggled for words.

"Um...did you require anything else, Sir?"

"Yes, forgive me this is very disorienting, at the moment I have my body sticking out of a cauldron flame at the moment."

As he said this, several portions of his beard began floating above his head from the heat.

"I forgot to mention that the Quidditch pitch is also available for use, so you may be able to challenge a few of the professors to a friendly game. Professor Flitwick is quite an accomplished Keeper when the mood strikes him."

With that bit of surprising information, the headmaster vanished.


End file.
